As you assemble for the discharge of the duties you have assumed as
the representatives of a free and generous people, your meeting is marked
by an interesting and impressive incident. With the expiration of the present
session of the Congress the first century of our constitutional existence
as a nation will be completed.

Our survival for one hundred years is not sufficient to assure us that
we no longer have dangers to fear in the maintenance, with all its promised
blessings, of a government rounded upon the freedom of the people. The
time rather admonishes us to soberly inquire whether in the past we have
always closely kept in the course of safety, and whether we have before
us a way plain and clear which leads to happiness and perpetuity.

When the experiment of our Government was undertaken, the chart adopted
for our guidance was the Constitution. Departure from the lines there laid
down is failure. It is only by a strict adherence to the direction they
indicate and by restraint within the limitations they fix that we can furnish
proof to the world of the fitness of the American people for self-government.

The equal and exact justice of which we boast as the underlying principle
of our institutions should not be confined to the relations of our citizens
to each other. The Government itself is under bond to the American people
that in the exercise of its functions and powers it will deal with the
body of our citizens in a manner scrupulously honest and fair and absolutely
just. It has agreed that American citizenship shall be the only credential
necessary to justify the claim of equality before the law, and that no
condition in life shall give rise to discrimination in the treatment of
the people by their Government.

The citizen of our Republic in its early days rigidly insisted upon
full compliance with the letter of this bond, and saw stretching out before
him a clear field for individual endeavor. His tribute to the support of
his Government was measured by the cost of its economical maintenance,
and he was secure in the enjoyment of the remaining recompense of his steady
and contented toil. In those days the frugality of the people was stamped
upon their Government, and was enforced by the free, thoughtful, and intelligent
suffrage of the citizen. Combinations, monopolies, and aggregations of
capital were either avoided or sternly regulated and restrained. The pomp
and glitter of governments less free offered no temptation and presented
no delusion to the plain people who, side by side, in friendly competition,
wrought for the ennoblement and dignity of man, for the solution of the
problem of free government, and for the achievement of the grand destiny
awaiting the land which God had given them.

A century has passed. Our cities are the abiding places of wealth and
luxury; our manufactories yield fortunes never dreamed of by the fathers
of the Republic; our business men are madly striving in the race for riches,
and immense aggregations of capital outrun the imagination in the magnitude
of their undertakings.

We view with pride and satisfaction this bright picture of our country's
growth and prosperity, while only a closer scrutiny develops a somber shading.
Upon more careful inspection we find the wealth and luxury of our cities
mingled with poverty and wretchedness and unremunerative toil. A crowded
and constantly increasing urban population suggests the impoverishment
of rural sections and discontent with agricultural pursuits. The farmer's
son, not satisfied with his father's simple and laborious life, joins the
eager chase for easily acquired wealth.

We discover that the fortunes realized by our manufacturers are no longer
solely the reward of sturdy industry and enlightened foresight, but that
they result from the discriminating favor of the Government and are largely
built upon undue exactions from the masses of our people. The gulf between
employers and the employed is constantly widening, and classes are rapidly
forming, one comprising the very rich and powerful, while in another are
found the toiling poor.

As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we discover the existence
of trusts, combinations, and monopolies, while the citizen is struggling
far in the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations,
which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants
of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters.

Still congratulating ourselves upon the wealth and prosperity of our
country and complacently contemplating every incident of change inseparable
from these conditions, it is our duty as patriotic citizens to inquire
at the present stage of our progress how the bond of the Government made
with the people has been kept and performed.

Instead of limiting the tribute drawn from our citizens to the necessities
of its economical administration, the Government persists in exacting from
the substance of the people millions which, unapplied and useless, lie
dormant in its Treasury. This flagrant injustice and this breach of faith
and obligation add to extortion the danger attending the diversion of the
currency of the country from the legitimate channels of business.

Under the same laws by which these results are produced the Government
permits many millions more to be added to the cost of the living of our
people and to be taken from our consumers, which unreasonably swell the
profits of a small but powerful minority.

The people must still be taxed for the support of the Government under
the operation of tariff laws. But to the extent that the mass of our citizens
are inordinately burdened beyond any useful public purpose and for the
benefit of a favored few, the Government, under pretext of an exercise
of its taxing power, enters gratuitously into partnership with these favorites,
to their advantage and to the injury of a vast majority of our people.

This is not equality before the law.

The existing situation is injurious to the health of our entire body
politic. It stifles in those for whose benefit it is permitted all patriotic
love of country, and substitutes in its place selfish greed and grasping
avarice. Devotion to American citizenship for its own sake and for what
it should accomplish as a motive to our nation's advancement and the happiness
of all our people is displaced by the assumption that the Government, instead
of being the embodiment of equality, is but an instrumentality through
which especial and individual advantages are to be gained.

The arrogance of this assumption is unconcealed. It appears in the sordid
disregard of all but personal interests, in the refusal to abate for the
benefit of others one iota of selfish advantage, and in combinations to
perpetuate such advantages through efforts to control legislation and improperly
influence the suffrages of the people.

The grievances of those not included within the circle of these beneficiaries,
when fully realized, will surely arouse irritation and discontent. Our
farmers, long suffering and patient, struggling in the race of life with
the hardest and most unremitting toil, will not fail to see, in spite of
misrepresentations and misleading fallacies, that they are obliged to accept
such prices for their products as are fixed in foreign markets where they
compete with the farmers of the world; that their lands are declining in
value while their debts increase, and that without compensating favor they
are forced by the action of the Government to pay for the benefit of others
such enhanced prices for the things they need that the scanty returns of
their labor fail to furnish their support or leave no margin for accumulation.

Our workingmen, enfranchised from all delusions and no longer frightened
by the cry that their wages are endangered by a just revision of our tariff
laws, will reasonably demand through such revision steadier employment,
cheaper means of living in their homes, freedom for themselves and their
children from the doom of perpetual servitude, and an open door to their
advancement beyond the limits of a laboring class. Others of our citizens,
whose comforts and expenditures are measured by moderate salaries and fixed
incomes, will insist upon the fairness and justice of cheapening the cost
of necessaries for themselves and their families.

When to the selfishness of the beneficiaries of unjust discrimination
under our laws there shall be added the discontent of those who suffer
from such discrimination, we will realize the fact that the beneficent
purposes of our Government, dependent upon the patriotism and contentment
of our people, are endangered.

Communism is a hateful thing and a menace to peace and organized government;
but the communism of combined wealth and capital, the outgrowth of overweening
cupidity and selfishness, which insidiously undermines the justice and
integrity of free institutions, is not less dangerous than the communism
of oppressed poverty and toil, which, exasperated by injustice and discontent,
attacks with wild disorder the citadel of rule.

He mocks the people who proposes that the Government shall protect the
rich and that they in turn will care for the laboring poor. Any intermediary
between the people and their Government or the least delegation of the
care and protection the Government owes to the humblest citizen in the
land makes the boast of free institutions a glittering delusion and the
pretended boon of American citizenship a shameless imposition.
A just and sensible revision of our tariff laws should be made for
the relief of those of our countrymen who suffer under present conditions.
Such a revision should receive the support of all who love that justice
and equality due to American citizenship; of all who realize that in this
justice and equality our Government finds its strength and its power to
protect the citizen and his property; of all who believe that the contented
competence and comfort of many accord better with the spirit of our institutions
than colossal fortunes unfairly gathered in the hands of a few; of all
who appreciate that the forbearance and fraternity among our people, which
recognize the value of every American interest, are the surest guaranty
of our national progress, and of all who desire to see the products of
American skill and ingenuity in every market of the world, with a resulting
restoration of American commerce.

The necessity of the reduction of our revenues is so apparent as to
be generally conceded, but the means by which this end shall be accomplished
and the sum of direct benefit which shall result to our citizens present
a controversy of the utmost importance. There should be no scheme accepted
as satisfactory by which the burdens of the people are only apparently
removed. Extravagant appropriations of public money, with all their demoralizing
consequences, should not be tolerated, either as a means of relieving the
Treasury of its present surplus or as furnishing pretext for resisting
a proper reduction in tariff rates. Existing evils and injustice should
be honestly recognized, boldly met, and effectively remedied. There should
be no cessation of the struggle until a plan is perfected, fair and conservative
toward existing industries, but which will reduce the cost to consumers
of the necessaries of life, while it provides for our manufacturers the
advantage of freer raw materials and permits no injury to the interests
of American labor.

The cause for which the battle is waged is comprised within lines clearly
and distinctly defined. It should never be compromised. It is the people's
cause.

It can not be denied that the selfish and private interests which are
so persistently heard when efforts are made to deal in a just and comprehensive
manner with our tariff laws are related to, if they are not responsible
for, the sentiment largely prevailing among the people that the General
Government is the fountain of individual and private aid; that it may be
expected to relieve with paternal care the distress of citizens and communities,
and that from the fullness of its Treasury it should, upon the slightest
possible pretext of promoting the general good, apply public funds to the
benefit of localities and individuals. Nor can it be denied that there
is a growing assumption that, as against the Government and in favor of
private claims and interests, the usual rules and limitations of business
principles and just dealing should be waived.

These ideas have been unhappily much encouraged by legislative acquiescence.
Relief from contracts made with the Government is too easily accorded in
favor of the citizen; the failure to support claims against the Government
by proof is often supplied by no better consideration than the wealth of
the Government and the poverty of the claimant; gratuities in the form
of pensions are granted upon no other real ground than the needy condition
of the applicant, or for reasons less valid; and large sums are expended
for public buildings and other improvements upon representations scarcely
claimed to be related to public needs and necessities.

The extent to which the consideration of such matters subordinate and
postpone action upon subjects of great public importance, but involving
no special private or partisan interest, should arrest attention and lead
to reformation.

A few of the numerous illustrations of this condition may be stated.

The crowded condition of the calendar of the Supreme Court, and the
delay to suitors and denial of justice resulting therefrom, has been strongly
urged upon the attention of the Congress, with a plan for the relief of
the situation approved by those well able to judge of its merits. While
this subject remains without effective consideration, many laws have been
passed providing for the holding of terms of inferior courts at places
to suit the convenience of localities, or to lay the foundation of an application
for the erection of a new public building.

Repeated recommendations have been submitted for the amendment and change
of the laws relating to our public lands so that their spoliation and diversion
to other uses than as homes for honest settlers might be prevented. While
a measure to meet this conceded necessity of reform remains awaiting the
action of the Congress, many claims to the public lands and applications
for their donation, in favor of States and individuals, have been allowed.

A plan in aid of Indian management, recommended by those well informed
as containing valuable features in furtherance of the solution of the Indian
problem, has thus far failed of legislative sanction, while grants of doubtful
expediency to railroad corporations, permitting them to pass through Indian
reservations, have greatly multiplied.

The propriety and necessity of the erection of one or more prisons for
the confinement of United States convicts, and a post-office building in
the national capital, are not disputed. But these needs yet remain answered,
while scores of public buildings have been erected where their necessity
for public purposes is not apparent.

A revision of our pension laws could easily be made which would rest
upon just principles and provide for every worthy applicant. But while
our general pension laws remain confused and imperfect, hundreds of private
pension laws are annually passed, which are the sources of unjust discrimination
and popular demoralization.

Appropriation bills for the support of the Government are defaced by
items and provisions to meet private ends, and it is freely asserted by
responsible and experienced parties that a bill appropriating money for
public internal improvement would fail to meet with favor unless it contained
items more for local and private advantage than for public benefit.

These statements can be much emphasized by an ascertainment of the proportion
of Federal legislation which either bears upon its face its private character
or which upon examination develops such a motive power.

And yet the people wait and expect from their chosen representatives
such patriotic action as will advance the welfare of the entire country;
and this expectation can only be answered by the performance of public
duty with unselfish purpose. Our mission among the nations of the earth
and our success in accomplishing the work God has given the American people
to do require of those intrusted with the making and execution of our laws
perfect devotion, above all other things, to the public good.

This devotion will lead us to strongly resist all impatience of constitutional
limitations of Federal power and to persistently check the increasing tendency
to extend the scope of Federal legislation into the domain of State and
local jurisdiction upon the plea of subserving the public welfare. The
preservation of the partitions between proper subjects of Federal and local
care and regulation is of such importance under the Constitution, which
is the law of our very existence, that no consideration of expediency or
sentiment should tempt us to enter upon doubtful ground. We have undertaken
to discover and proclaim the richest blessings of a free government, with
the Constitution as our guide. Let us follow the way it points out; it
will not mislead us. And surely no one who has taken upon himself the solemn
obligation to support and preserve the Constitution can find justification
or solace for disloyalty in the excuse that he wandered and disobeyed in
search of a better way to reach the public welfare than the Constitution
offers.

What has been said is deemed not inappropriate at a time when, from
a century's height, we view the way already trod by the American people
and attempt to discover their future path.

The seventh President of the United States--the soldier and statesman
and at all times the firm and brave friend of the people--in vindication
of his course as the protector of popular rights and the champion of true
American citizenship, declared:

The ambition which leads me on is an anxious desire and a fixed determination
to restore to the people unimpaired the sacred trust they have confided
to my charge; to, heal the wounds of the Constitution and to preserve it
from further violation; to persuade my countrymen, so far as I may, that
it is not in a splendid government supported by powerful monopolies and
aristocratical establishments that they will find happiness or their liberties
protection, but in a plain system, void of pomp, protecting all and granting
favors to none, dispensing its blessings like the dews of heaven, unseen
and unfelt save in the freshness and beauty they contribute to produce.
It is such a government that the genius of our people requires--such an
one only under which our States may remain for ages to come united, prosperous,
and free.
In pursuance of a constitutional provision requiring the President
from time to time to give to the Congress information of the state of the
Union, I have the satisfaction to announce that the close of the year finds
the United States in the enjoyment of domestic tranquillity and at peace
with all the nations.
Since my last annual message our foreign relations have been strengthened
and improved by performance of international good offices and by new and
renewed treaties of amity, commerce, and reciprocal extradition of criminals.

Those international questions which still await settlement are all reasonably
within the domain of amicable negotiation, and there is no existing subject
of dispute between the United States and any foreign power that is not
susceptible of satisfactory adjustment by frank diplomatic treatment.

The questions between Great Britain and the United States relating to
the rights of American fishermen, under treaty and international comity,
in the territorial waters of Canada and Newfoundland, I regret to say,
are not yet satisfactorily adjusted.

These matters were fully treated in my message to the Senate of February
20 1888, together with which a convention, concluded under my authority
with Her Majesty's Government on the 15th of February last, for the removal
of all causes of misunderstanding, was submitted by me for the approval
of the Senate.

This treaty having been rejected by the Senate, I transmitted a message
to the Congress on the 23d of August last reviewing the transactions and
submitting for consideration certain recommendations for legislation concerning
the important questions involved.

Afterwards, on the 12th of September, in response to a resolution of
the Senate, I again communicated fully all the information in my possession
as to the action of the government of Canada affecting the commercial relations
between the Dominion and the United States, including the treatment of
American fishing vessels in the ports and waters of British North America.

These communications have all been published, and therefore opened to
the knowledge of both Houses of Congress, although two were addressed to
the Senate alone.

Comment upon or repetition of their contents would be superfluous, and
I am not aware that anything has since occurred which should be added to
the facts therein stated. Therefore I merely repeat, as applicable to the
present time, the statement which will be found in my message to the Senate
of September 12 last, that--

Since March 3, 1887, no case has been reported to the Department of
State wherein complaint was made of unfriendly or unlawful treatment of
American fishing vessels on the part of the Canadian authorities in which
reparation was not promptly and satisfactorily obtained by the United States
consul-general at Halifax.
Having essayed in the discharge of my duty to procure by negotiation
the settlement of a long-standing cause of dispute and to remove a constant
menace to the good relations of the two countries, and continuing to be
of opinion that the treaty of February last, which failed to receive the
approval of the Senate, did supply "a satisfactory, practical, and final
adjustment, upon a basis honorable and just to both parties, of the difficult
and vexed question to which it related," and having subsequently and unavailingly
recommended other legislation to Congress which I hoped would suffice to
meet the exigency created by the rejection of the treaty, I now again invoke
the earnest and immediate attention of the Congress to the condition of
this important question as it now stands before them and the country, and
for the settlement of which I am deeply solicitous.
Near the close of the month of October last occurrences of a deeply
regrettable nature were brought to my knowledge, which made it my painful
but imperative duty to obtain with as little delay as possible a new personal
channel of diplomatic intercourse in this country with the Government of
Great Britain.

The correspondence in relation to this incident will in due course be
laid before you, and will disclose the unpardonable conduct of the official
referred to in his interference by advice and counsel with the suffrages
of American citizens in the very crisis of the Presidential election then
near at hand, and also in his subsequent public declarations to justify
his action, superadding impugnment of the Executive and Senate of the United
States in connection with important questions now pending in controversy
between the two Governments.

The offense thus committed was most grave, involving disastrous possibilities
to the good relations of the United States and Great Britain, constituting
a gross breach of diplomatic privilege and an invasion of the purely domestic
affairs and essential sovereignty of the Government to which the envoy
was accredited.

Having first fulfilled the just demands of international comity by affording
full opportunity for Her Majesty's Government to act in relief of the situation,
I considered prolongation of discussion to be unwarranted, and thereupon
declined to further recognize the diplomatic character of the person whose
continuance in such function would destroy that mutual confidence which
is essential to the good understanding of the two Governments and was inconsistent
with the welfare and self-respect of the Government of the United States.

The usual interchange of communication has since continued through Her
Majesty's legation in this city.

My endeavors to establish by international cooperation measures for
the prevention of the extermination of fur seals in Bering Sea have not
been relaxed, and I have hopes of being enabled shortly to submit an effective
and satisfactory conventional projet with the maritime powers for the approval
of the Senate.

The coastal boundary between our Alaskan possessions and British Columbia,
I regret to say, has not received the attention demanded by its importance,
and which on several occasions heretofore I have had the honor to recommend
to the Congress.

The admitted impracticability, if not impossibility, of making an accurate
and precise survey and demarcation of the boundary line as it is recited
in the treaty with Russia under which Alaska was ceded to the United States
renders it absolutely requisite for the prevention of international jurisdictional
complications that adequate appropriation for a reconnoissance and survey
to obtain proper knowledge of the locality and the geographical features
of the boundary should be authorized by Congress with as little delay as
possible.

Knowledge to be only thus obtained is an essential prerequisite for
negotiation for ascertaining a common boundary, or as preliminary to any
other mode of settlement.

It is much to be desired that some agreement should be reached with
Her Majesty's Government by which the damages to life and property on the
Great Lakes may be alleviated by removing or humanely regulating the obstacles
to reciprocal assistance to wrecked or stranded vessels.

The act of June 19, 1878, which offers to Canadian vessels free access
to our inland waters in aid of wrecked or disabled vessels, has not yet
become effective through concurrent action by Canada.

The due protection of our citizens of French origin or descent from
claim of military service in the event of their returning to or visiting
France has called forth correspondence which was laid before you at the
last session.

In the absence of conventional agreement as to naturalization, which
is greatly to be desired, this Government sees no occasion to recede from
the sound position it has maintained not only with regard to France, but
as to all countries with which the United States have not concluded special
treaties.

Twice within the last year has the imperial household of Germany been
visited by death; and I have hastened to express the sorrow of this people,
and their appreciation of the lofty character of the late aged Emperor
William, and their sympathy with the heroism under suffering of his son
the late Emperor Frederick.

I renew my recommendation of two years ago for the passage of a bill
for the refunding to certain German steamship lines of the interest upon
tonnage dues illegally exacted.

On the 12th [2d] of April last I laid before the House of Representatives
full information respecting our interests in Samoa; and in the subsequent
correspondence on the same subject, which will be laid before you in due
course, the history of events in those islands will be found.

In a message accompanying my approval, on the 1st day of October last,
of a bill for the exclusion of Chinese laborers, I laid before Congress
full information and all correspondence touching the negotiation of the
treaty with China concluded at this capital on the 12th day of March, 1888,
and which, having been confirmed by the Senate with certain amendments,
was rejected by the Chinese Government. This message contained a recommendation
that a sum of money be appropriated as compensation to Chinese subjects
who had suffered injuries at the hands of lawless men within our jurisdiction.
Such appropriation having been duly made, the fund awaits reception by
the Chinese Government.

It is sincerely hoped that by the cessation of the influx of this class
of Chinese subjects, in accordance with the expressed wish of both Governments,
a cause of unkind feeling has been permanently removed.

On the 9th of August, 1887, notification was given by the Japanese minister
at this capital of the adjournment of the conference for the revision of
the treaties of Japan with foreign powers, owing to the objection of his
Government to the provision in the draft jurisdictional convention which
required the submission of the criminal code of the Empire to the powers
in advance of its becoming operative. This notification was, however, accompanied
with an assurance of Japan's intention to continue the work of revision.

Notwithstanding this temporary interruption of negotiations, it is hoped
that improvements may soon be secured in the jurisdictional system as respects
foreigners in Japan, and relief afforded to that country from the present
undue and oppressive foreign control in matters of commerce.

I earnestly recommend that relief be provided for the injuries accidentally
caused to Japanese subjects in the island Ikisima by the target practice
of one of our vessels.

A diplomatic mission from Korea has been received, and the formal intercourse
between the two countries contemplated by the treaty of 1882 is now established.

Legislative provision is hereby recommended to organize and equip consular
courts in Korea.

Persia has established diplomatic representation at this capital, and
has evinced very great interest in the enterprise and achievements of our
citizens. I am therefore hopeful that beneficial commercial relations between
the two countries may be brought about.

I announce with sincere regret that Hayti has again become the theater
of insurrection, disorder, and bloodshed. The titular government of president
Saloman has been forcibly overthrown and he driven out of the country to
France, where he has since died.

The tenure of power has been so unstable amid the war of factions that
has ensued since the expulsion of President Saloman that no government
constituted by the will of the Haytian people has been recognized as administering
responsibly the affairs of that country. Our representative has been instructed
to abstain from interference between the warring factions, and a vessel
of our Navy has been sent to Haytian waters to sustain our minister and
for the protection of the persons and property of American citizens.

Due precautions have been taken to enforce our neutrality laws and prevent
our territory from becoming the base of military supplies for either of
the warring factions.

Under color of a blockade, of which no reasonable notice had been given,
and which does not appear to have been efficiently maintained, a seizure
of vessels under the American flag has been reported, and in consequence
measures to prevent and redress any molestation of our innocent merchantmen
have been adopted.

Proclamation was duly made on the 9th day of November, 1887, of the
conventional extensions of the treaty of June 3, 1875, with Hawaii, under
which relations of such special and beneficent intercourse have been created.

In the vast field of Oriental commerce now unfolded from our Pacific
borders no feature presents stronger recommendations for Congressional
action than the establishment of communication by submarine telegraph with
Honolulu.

The geographical position of the Hawaiian group in relation to our Pacific
States creates a natural interdependency and mutuality of interest which
our present treaties were intended to foster, and which make close communication
a logical and commercial necessity.

The wisdom of concluding a treaty of commercial reciprocity with Mexico
has been heretofore stated in my messages to Congress, and the lapse of
time and growth of commerce with that close neighbor and sister Republic
confirm the judgment so expressed.

The precise relocation of our boundary line is needful, and adequate
appropriation is now recommended.

It is with sincere satisfaction that I am enabled to advert to the spirit
of good neighborhood and friendly cooperation and conciliation that has
marked the correspondence and action of the Mexican authorities in their
share of the task of maintaining law and order about the line of our common
boundary.

The long-pending boundary dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua was
referred to my arbitration, and by an award made on the 22d of March last
the question has been finally settled to the expressed satisfaction of
both of the parties in interest.

The Empire of Brazil, in abolishing the last vestige of slavery among
Christian nations, called forth the earnest congratulations of this Government
in expression of the cordial sympathies of our people.

The claims of nearly all other countries against Chile growing out of
her late war with Bolivia and Peru have been disposed of, either by arbitration
or by a lump settlement. Similar claims of our citizens will continue to
be urged upon the Chilean Government, and it is hoped will not be subject
to further delays.

A comprehensive treaty of amity and commerce with Peru was proclaimed
on November 7 last, and it is expected that under its operation mutual
prosperity and good understanding will be promoted.

In pursuance of the policy of arbitration, a treaty to settle the claim
of Santos, an American citizen, against Ecuador has been concluded under
my authority, and will be duly submitted for the approval of the Senate.

Like disposition of the claim of Carlos Butterfield against Denmark
and of Van Bokkelen against Hayti will probably be made, and I trust the
principle of such settlements may be extended in practice under the approval
of the Senate.

Through unforeseen causes, foreign to the will of both Governments,
the ratification of the convention of December 5, 1885, with Venezuela,
for the rehearing of claims of citizens of the United States under the
treaty of 1866, failed of exchange within the term provided, and a supplementary
convention, further extending the time for exchange of ratifications and
explanatory of an ambiguous provision of the prior convention, now awaits
the advice and consent of the Senate.

Although this matter, in the stage referred to, concerns only the concurrent
treaty-making power of one branch of Congress, I advert to it in view of
the interest repeatedly and conspicuously shown by you in your legislative
capacity in favor of a speedy and equitable adjustment of the questions
growing out of the discredited judgments of the previous mixed commission
of Caracas. With every desire to do justice to the representations of Venezuela
in this regard, the time seems to have come to end this matter, and I trust
the prompt confirmation by both parties of the supplementary action referred
to will avert the need of legislative or other action to prevent the longer
withholding of such rights of actual claimants as may be shown to exist.

As authorized by the Congress, preliminary steps have been taken for
the assemblage at this capital during the coming year of the representatives
of South and Central American States, together with those of Mexico, Hayti,
and San Domingo, to discuss sundry important monetary and commercial topics.

Excepting in those cases where, from reasons of contiguity of territory
and the existence of a common border line incapable of being guarded, reciprocal
commercial treaties may be found expedient, it is believed that commercial
policies inducing freer mutual exchange of products can be most advantageously
arranged by independent but cooperative legislation.

In the mode last mentioned the control of our taxation for revenue will
be always retained in our own hands unrestricted by conventional agreements
with other governments.

In conformity also with Congressional authority, the maritime powers
have been invited to confer in Washington in April next upon the practicability
of devising uniform rules and measures for the greater security of life
and property at sea. A disposition to accept on the part of a number of
the powers has already been manifested, and if the cooperation of the nations
chiefly interested shall be secured important results may be confidently
anticipated.

The act of June 26, 1884, and the acts amendatory thereof, in relation
to tonnage duties, have given rise to extended correspondence with foreign
nations with whom we have existing treaties of navigation and commerce,
and have caused wide and regrettable divergence of opinion in relation
to the imposition of the duties referred to. These questions are important,
and I shall make them the subject of a special and more detailed communication
at the present session.

With the rapid increase of immigration to our shores and the facilities
of modern travel, abuses of the generous privileges afforded by our naturalization
laws call for their careful revision.

The easy and unguarded manner in which certificates of American citizenship
can now be obtained has induced a class, unfortunately large, to avail
themselves of the opportunity to become absolved from allegiance to their
native land, and yet by a foreign residence to escape any just duty and
contribution of service to the country of their proposed adoption. Thus,
while evading the duties of citizenship to the United States, they may
make prompt claim for its national protection and demand its intervention
in their behalf. International complications of a serious nature arise,
and the correspondence of the State Department discloses the great number
and complexity of the questions which have been raised.

Our laws regulating the issue of passports should be carefully revised,
and the institution of a central bureau of registration at the capital
is again strongly recommended. By this means full particulars of each case
of naturalization in the United States would be secured and properly indexed
and recorded, and thus many cases of spurious citizenship would be detected
and unjust responsibilities would be avoided.

The reorganization of the consular service is a matter of serious importance
to our national interests. The number of existing principal consular offices
is believed to be greater than is at all necessary for the conduct of the
public business. It need not be our policy to maintain more than a moderate
number of principal offices, each supported by a salary sufficient to enable
the incumbent to live in comfort, and so distributed as to secure the convenient
supervision, through subordinate agencies, of affairs over a considerable
district.

I repeat the recommendations heretofore made by me that the appropriations
for the maintenance of our diplomatic and consular service should be recast;
that the so-called notarial or unofficial fees, which our representatives
abroad are now permitted to treat as personal perquisites, should be forbidden;
that a system of consular inspection should be instituted, and that a limited
number of secretaries of legation at large should be authorized.

Preparations for the centennial celebration, on April 30, 1889, of the
inauguration of George Washington as President of the United States, at
the city of New York, have been made by a voluntary organization of the
citizens of that locality, and believing that an opportunity should be
afforded for the expression of the interest felt throughout the country
in this event, I respectfully recommend fitting and cooperative action
by Congress on behalf of the people of the United States.

The report of the Secretary of the Treasury exhibits in detail the condition
of our national finances and the operations of the several branches of
the Government related to his Department.

The total ordinary revenues of the Government for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1888, amounted to $379,266,074.76, of which $219,091,173.63 was
received from customs duties and $124,296,871.98 from internal revenue
taxes.

The total receipts from all sources exceeded those for the fiscal year
ended June 30, 1887, by $7,862,797.10.

The ordinary expenditures of the Government for the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1888, were $259,653,958.67, leaving a surplus of $119,612,116.09.

The decrease in these expenditures as compared with the fiscal year
ended June 30, 1887, was $8,278,221.30, notwithstanding the payment of
more than $5,000,000 for pensions in excess of what was paid for that purpose
in the latter-mentioned year.

The revenues of the Government for the year ending June 30, 1889, ascertained
for the quarter ended September 30, 1888, and estimated for the remainder
of the time, amount to $377,000,000, and the actual and estimated ordinary
expenditures for the same year are $273,000,000, leaving an estimated surplus
of $104,000,000.

The estimated receipts for the year ending June 30, 1890, are $377,000,000,
and the estimated ordinary expenditures for the same time are $275,767,488.34,
showing a surplus of $101,232,511.66.

The foregoing statements of surplus do not take into account the sum
necessary to be expended to meet the requirements of the sinking-fund act,
amounting to more than $47,000,000 annually.

The cost of collecting the customs revenues for the last fiscal year
was 2.44 per cent; for the year 1885 it was 3.77 per cent.

The excess of internal-revenue taxes collected during the last fiscal
year over those collected for the year ended June 30, 1887, was $5,489,174.26,
and the cost of collecting this revenue decreased from 3.4 per cent in
1887 to less than 3.2 per cent for the last year. The tax collected on
oleomargarine was $723,948.04 for the year ending June 30, 1887, and $864,139.88
for the following year.

The requirements of the sinking-fund act have been met for the year
ended June 30, 1888, and for the current year also, by the purchase of
bonds. After complying with this law as positively required, and bonds
sufficient for that purpose had been bought at a premium, it was not deemed
prudent to further expend the surplus in such purchases until the authority
to do so should be more explicit. A resolution, however, having been passed
by both Houses of Congress removing all doubt as to Executive authority,
daily purchases of bonds were commenced on the 23d day of April, 1888,
and have continued until the present time. By this plan bonds of the Government
not yet due have been purchased up to and including the 30th day of November,
1888, amounting to $94,700,400, the premium paid thereon amounting to $17,508,613.08.

The premium added to the principal of these bonds represents an investment
yielding about 2 per cent interest for the time they still had to run,
and the saving to the Government represented by the difference between
the amount of interest at 2 per cent upon the sum paid for principal and
premium and what it would have paid for interest at the rate specified
in the bonds if they had run to their maturity is about $27,165,000.

At first sight this would seem to be a profitable and sensible transaction
on the part of the Government, but, as suggested by the Secretary of the
Treasury, the surplus thus expended for the purchase of bonds was money
drawn from the people in excess of any actual need of the Government and
was so expended rather than allow it to remain idle in the Treasury. If
this surplus, under the operation of just and equitable laws, had been
left in the hands of the people, it would have been worth in their business
at least 6 per cent per annum. Deducting from the amount of interest upon
the principal and premium of these bonds for the time they had to run at
the rate of 6 per cent the saving of 2 per cent made for the people by
the purchase of such bonds, the loss will appear to be $55,760,000.

This calculation would seem to demonstrate that if excessive and unnecessary
taxation is continued and the Government is forced to pursue this policy
of purchasing its own bonds at the premiums which it will be necessary
to pay, the loss to the people will be hundreds of millions of dollars.

Since the purchase of bonds was undertaken as mentioned nearly all that
have been offered were at last accepted. It has been made quite apparent
that the Government was in danger of being subjected to combinations to
raise their price, as appears by the instance cited by the Secretary of
the offering of bonds of the par value of only $326,000 so often that the
aggregate of the sums demanded for their purchase amounted to more than
$ 19,700,000.

Notwithstanding the large sums paid out in the purchase of bonds, the
surplus in the Treasury on the 30th day of November, 1888, was $52,234,610.01,
after deducting about $20,000,000 just drawn out for the payment of pensions.

At the close of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1887, there had been
coined under the compulsory silver-coinage act $266,988,280 in silver dollars,
$55,504,310 of which were in the hands of the people.

On the 30th day of June, 1888, there had been coined $299,708,790; and
of this $55,829,303 was in circulation in coin, and $200,387,376 in silver
certificates, for the redemption of which silver dollars to that amount
were held by the Government.

On the 30th day of November, 1888, $312,570,990 had been coined, $60,970,990
of the silver dollars were actually in circulation, and $237,418,346 in
certificates.

The Secretary recommends the suspension of the further coinage of silver,
and in such recommendation I earnestly concur.

For further valuable information and timely recommendations I ask the
careful attention of the Congress to the Secretary's report.

The Secretary of War reports that the Army at the date of the last consolidated
returns consisted of 2,189 officers and 24,549 enlisted men.

The actual expenditures of the War Department for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1888, amounted to $41,165,107.07, of which sum $9,158,516.63 was
expended for public works, including river and harbor improvements.

"The Board of Ordnance and Fortifications" provided for under the act
approved September 22 last was convened October 30, 1888, and plans and
specifications for procuring forgings for 8, 10, and 12 inch guns, under
provisions of section 4, and also for procuring 12-inch breech-loading
mortars, cast iron, hooped with steel, under the provisions of section
5 of the said act, were submitted to the Secretary of War for reference
to the board, by the Ordnance Department, on the same date.

These plans and specifications having been promptly approved by the
board and the Secretary of War, the necessary authority to publish advertisements
inviting proposals in the newspapers throughout the country was granted
by the Secretary on November 12, and on November 13 the advertisements
were sent out to the different newspapers designated. The bids for the
steel forgings are to be opened on December 20, 1888, and for the mortars
on December 15, 1888.

A board of ordnance officers was convened at the Watervliet Arsenal
on October 4, 1888, to prepare the necessary plans and specifications for
the establishment of an army gun factory at that point. The preliminary
report of this board, with estimates for shop buildings and officers' quarters,
was approved by the Board of Ordnance and Fortifications November 6 and
8. The specifications and form of advertisement and instructions to bidders
have been prepared, and advertisements inviting proposals for the excavations
for the shop building and for erecting the two sets of officers' quarters
have been published. The detailed drawings and specifications for the gun-factory
building are well in hand, and will be finished within three or four months,
when bids will be invited for the erection of the building. The list of
machines, etc., is made out, and it is expected that the plans for the
large lathes, etc., will be completed within about four months, and after
approval by the Board of Ordnance and Fortifications bids for furnishing
the same will be invited. The machines and other fixtures will be completed
as soon as the shop is in readiness to receive them, probably about July,
1890.

Under the provisions of the Army bill for the procurement of pneumatic
dynamite guns, the necessary specifications are now being prepared, and
advertisements for proposals will issue early in December. The guns will
probably be of 15 inches caliber and fire a projectile that will carry
a charge each of about 500 pounds of explosive gelatine with full-caliber
projectiles. The guns will probably be delivered in from six to ten months
from the date of the contract, so that all the guns of this class that
can be procured under the provisions of the law will be purchased during
the year 1889.

I earnestly request that the recommendations contained in the Secretary's
report, all of which are, in my opinion, calculated to increase the usefulness
and discipline of the Army, may receive the consideration of the Congress.
Among these the proposal that there should be provided a plan for the examination
of officers to test their fitness for promotion is of the utmost importance.
This reform has been before recommended in the reports of the Secretary,
and its expediency is so fully demonstrated by the argument he presents
in its favor that its adoption should no longer be neglected.

The death of General Sheridan in August last was a national affliction.
The Army then lost the grandest of its chiefs. The country lost a brave
and experienced soldier, a wise and discreet counselor, and a modest and
sensible man. Those who in any manner came within the range of his personal
association will never fail to pay deserved and willing homage to his greatness
and the glory of his career, but they will cherish with more tender sensibility
the loving memory of his simple, generous, and considerate nature.

The Apache Indians, whose removal from their reservation in Arizona
followed the capture o£ those of their number who engaged in a bloody
and murderous raid during a part of the years 1885 and 1886, are now held
as prisoners of war at Mount Vernon Barracks, in the State of Alabama.
They numbered on the 31st day of October, the date of the last report,
83 men, 170 women, 70 boys, and 59 girls; in all, 382 persons. The commanding
officer states that they are in good health and contented, and that they
are kept employed as fully as is possible in the circumstances. The children,
as they arrive at a suitable age, are sent to the Indian schools at Carlisle
and Hampton.

Last summer some charitable and kind people asked permission to send
two teachers to these Indians for the purpose of instructing the adults
as well as such children as should be found there. Such permission was
readily granted, accommodations were provided for the teachers, and some
portions of the buildings at the barracks were made available for school
purposes. The good work contemplated has been commenced, and the teachers
engaged are paid by the ladies with whom the plan originated.

I am not at all in sympathy with those benevolent but injudicious people
who are constantly insisting that these Indians should be returned to their
reservation. Their removal was an absolute necessity if the lives and property
of citizens upon the frontier are to be at all regarded by the Government.
Their continued restraint at a distance from the scene of their repeated
and cruel murders and outrages is still necessary. It is a mistaken philanthropy,
every way injurious, which prompts the desire to see these savages returned
to their old haunts. They are in their present location as the result of
the best judgment of those having official responsibility in the matter,
and who are by no means lacking in kind consideration for the Indians.
A number of these prisoners have forfeited their lives to outraged law
and humanity. Experience has proved that they are dangerous and can not
be trusted. This is true not only of those who on the warpath have heretofore
actually been guilty of atrocious murder, but of their kindred and friends,
who, while they remained upon their reservation, furnished aid and comfort
to those absent with bloody intent.

These prisoners should be treated kindly and kept in restraint far from
the locality of their former reservation; they should be subjected to efforts
calculated to lead to their improvement and the softening of their savage
and cruel instincts, but their return to their old home should be persistently
resisted.

The Secretary in his report gives a graphic history of these Indians,
and recites with painful vividness their bloody deeds and the unhappy failure
of the Government to manage them by peaceful means. It will be amazing
if a perusal of this history will allow the survival of a desire for the
return of these prisoners to their reservation upon sentimental or any
other grounds.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy demonstrates very intelligent
management in that important Department, and discloses the most satisfactory
progress in the work of reconstructing the Navy made during the past year.
Of the ships in course of construction five, viz, the Charleston, Baltimore,
Yorktown, Vesuvius, and the Petrel, have in that time been launched and
are rapidly approaching completion; and in addition to the above, the Philadelphia,
the San Francisco, the Newark, the Bennington, the Concord, and the Herreshoff
torpedo boat are all under contract for delivery to the Department during
the next year. The progress already made and being made gives good ground
for the expectation that these eleven vessels will be incorporated as part
of the American Navy within the next twelve months.

The report shows that notwithstanding the large expenditures for new
construction and the additional labor they involve the total ordinary or
current expenditures of the Department for the three years ending June
30, 1888, are less by more than 20 per cent than such expenditures for
the three years ending June 30, 1884.

The various steps which have been taken to improve the business methods
of the Department are reviewed by the Secretary. The purchasing of supplies
has been consolidated and placed under a responsible bureau head. This
has resulted in the curtailment of open purchases, which in the years 1884
and 1885 amounted to over 50 per cent of all the purchases of the Department,
to less than 11 per cent; so that at the present time about 90 per cent
of the total departmental purchases are made by contract and after competition.
As the expenditures on this account exceed an average of $2,000,000 annually,
it is evident that an important improvement in the system has been inaugurated
and substantial economies introduced.

The report of the Postmaster-General shows a marked increase of business
in every branch of the postal service.

The number of post-offices on July 1, 1888, was 57,376, an increase
of 6,124 in three years and of 2,219 for tthe last fiscal year. The latter-mentioned
increase is classified as follows:

New England States
Middle States 181
Southern States and Indian Territory (41) 1,406
The States and Territories of the Pacific Coast 190
The ten States and Territories of the West and Northwest 435
District of Columbia 2

Free-delivery offices have increased from 189 in the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1887, to 358 in the year ended June 30, 1888.

In the Railway Mail Service there has been an increase in one year of
168 routes, and in the number of miles traveled per annum an increase of
15,795,917.48. The estimated increase of railroad service for the year
was 6,000 miles, but the amount of new railroad service actually put on
was 12,764.50 miles.

The volume of business in the Money-Order Division, including transactions
in postal notes, reached the sum of upward of $143,000,000 for the year.

During the past year parcel-post conventions have been concluded with
Barbados, the Bahamas, British Honduras, and Mexico, and are now under
negotiation with all the Central and South American States. The increase
of correspondence with foreign countries during the past three years is
gratifying, and is especially notable and exceptional with the Central
and South American States and with Mexico. As the greater part of mail
matter exchanged with these countries is commercial in its character, this
increase is evidence of the improved business relations with them. The
practical operation of the parcel-post conventions, so far as negotiated,
has served to fulfill the most favorable predictions as to their benefits.
In January last a general postal convention was negotiated with the Dominion
of Canada, which went into operation on March 1, and which practically
makes one postal territory of the United States and Canada. Under it merchandise
parcels may now be transmitted through the mails at fourth-class rates
of postage.

It is not possible here to touch even the leading heads of the great
postal establishment to illustrate the enormous and rapid growth of its
business and the needs for legislative readjustment of much of its machinery
that it has outgrown. For these and valuable recommendations of the Postmaster-General
attention is earnestly invited to his report.

A Department whose revenues have increased from $19,772,000 in 1870
to $52,700,000 in 1888, despite reductions of postage which have enormously
reduced rates of revenue while greatly increasing its business, demands
the careful consideration of the Congress as to all matters suggested by
those familiar with its operations, and which are calculated to increase
its efficiency and usefulness.

A bill proposed by the Postmaster-General was introduced at the last
session of the Congress by which a uniform standard in the amount of gross
receipts would fix the right of a community to a public building to be
erected by the Government for post-office purposes. It was demonstrated
that, aside from the public convenience and the promotion of harmony among
citizens, invariably disturbed by change of leasings and of site, it was
a measure of the highest economy and of sound business judgment. It was
found that the Government was paying in rents at the rate of from 7 to
10 per cent per annum on what the cost of such public buildings would be.
A very great advantage resulting from such a law would be the prevention
of a large number of bills constantly introduced for the erection of public
buildings at places, and involving expenditures not justified by public
necessity. I trust that this measure will become a law at the present session
of Congress.

Of the total number of postmasters 54,874 are of the fourth class. These,
of course, receive no allowances whatever for expenses in the service,
and their compensation is fixed by percentages on receipts at their respective
offices. This rate of compensation may have been, and probably was, at
some time just, but the standard has remained unchanged through the several
reductions in the rates of postage. Such reductions have necessarily cut
down the compensation of these officials, while it undoubtedly increased
the business performed by them. Simple justice requires attention to this
subject, to the end that fourth-class postmasters may receive at least
an equivalent to that which the law itself, fixing the rate, intended for
them.

Another class of postal employees whose condition seems to demand legislation
is that of clerks in post-offices, and I call especial attention to the
repeated recommendations of the Postmaster-General for their classification.
Proper legislation of this character for the relief of carriers in the
free-delivery service has been frequent. Provision is made for their promotion;
for substitutes for them on vacation; for substitutes for holidays, and
limiting their hours of labor. Seven million dollars has been appropriated
for the current year to provide for them, though the total number of offices
where they are employed is but 358 for the past fiscal year, with an estimated
increase for the current year of but 40, while the total appropriation
for all clerks in offices throughout the United States is $5,950,000.

The legislation affecting the relations of the Government with railroads
is in need of revision. While for the most part the railroad companies
throughout the country have cordially cooperated with the Post-Office Department
in rendering excellent service, yet under the law as it stands, while the
compensation to them for carrying the mail is limited and regulated, and
although railroads are made post-roads by law, there is no authority reposed
anywhere to compel the owner of a railroad to take and carry the United
States mails. The only alternative provided by act of Congress in case
of refusal is for the Postmaster-General to send mail forward by pony express.
This is but an illustration of ill-fitting legislation, reasonable and
proper at the time of its enactment, but long since outgrown and requiring
readjustment.

It is gratifying to note from the carefully prepared statistics accompanying
the Postmaster-General's report that notwithstanding the great expansion
of the service the rate of expenditure has been lessened and efficiency
has been improved in every branch; that fraud and crime have decreased;
that losses from the mails have been reduced, and that the number of complaints
of the service made to postmasters and to the Department are far less than
ever before.

The transactions of the Department of Justice for the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1888, are contained in the report of the Attorney-General, as
well as a number of valuable recommendations, the most part of which are
repetitions of those previously made, and ought to receive consideration.

It is stated in this report that though judgments in civil suits amounting
to $552,021.08 were recovered in favor of the Government during the year,
only the sum of $132,934 was collected thereon; and that though fines,
penalties, and forfeitures were imposed amounting to $541,808.43, only
$109,648.42 of that sum was paid on account thereof. These facts may furnish
an illustration of the sentiment which extensively prevails that a debt
due the Government should cause no inconvenience to the citizen.

It also appears from this report that though prior to March, 1885, there
had been but 6 convictions in the Territories of Utah and Idaho under the
laws of 1862 and 1882, punishing polygamy and unlawful cohabitation as
crimes, there have been since that date nearly 600 convictions under these
laws and the statutes of 1887; and the opinion is expressed that under
such a firm and vigilant execution of these laws and the advance of ideas
opposed to the forbidden practices polygamy within the United States is
virtually at an end.

Suits instituted by the Government under the provisions of the act of
March 3, 1887, for the termination of the corporations known as the Perpetual
Emigrating Fund Company and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
have resulted in a decree favorable to the Government, declaring the charters
of these corporations forfeited and escheating their property. Such property,
amounting in value to more than $800,000, is in the hands of a receiver
pending further proceedings, an appeal having been taken to the Supreme
Court of the United States.

In the report of the Secretary of the Interior, which will be laid before
you, the condition of the various branches of our domestic affairs connected
with that Department and its operations during the past year are fully
exhibited. But a brief reference to some of the subjects discussed in this
able and interesting report can here be made; but I commend the entire
report to the attention of the Congress, and trust that the sensible and
valuable recommendations it contains will secure careful consideration.

I can not too strenuously insist upon the importance of proper measures
to insure a right disposition of our public lands, not only as a matter
of present justice, but in forecast of the consequences to future generations.
The broad, rich acres of our agricultural plains have been long preserved
by nature to become her untrammeled gift to a people civilized and free,
upon which should rest in well-distributed ownership the numerous homes
of enlightened, equal, and fraternal citizens. They came to national possession
with the warning example in our eyes of the entail of iniquities in landed
proprietorship which other countries have permitted and still suffer. We
have no excuse for the violation of principles cogently taught by reason
and example, nor for the allowance of pretexts which have sometimes exposed
our lands to colossal greed. Laws which open a door to fraudulent acquisition,
or administration which permits favor to rapacious seizure by a favored
few of expanded areas that many should enjoy, are accessory to offenses
against our national welfare and humanity not to be too severely condemned
or punished.

It is gratifying to know that something has been done at last to redress
the injuries to our people and check the perilous tendency of the reckless
waste of the national domain. That over 80,000,000 acres have been arrested
from illegal usurpation, improvident grants, and fraudulent entries and
claims, to be taken for the homesteads of honest industry--although less
than the greater areas thus unjustly lost--must afford a profound gratification
to right-feeling citizens, as it is a recompense for the labors and struggles
of the recovery. Our dear experience ought sufficiently to urge the speedy
enactment of measures of legislation which will confine the future disposition
of our remaining agricultural lands to the uses of actual husbandry and
genuine homes.

Nor should our vast tracts of so-called desert lands be yielded up to
the monopoly of corporations or grasping individuals, as appears to be
much the tendency under the existing statute. These lands require but the
supply of water to become fertile and productive. It is a problem of great
moment how most wisely for the public good that factor shall be furnished.
I can not but think it perilous to suffer either these lands or the sources
of their irrigation to fall into the hands of monopolies, which by such
means may exercise lordship over the areas dependent on their treatment
for productiveness. Already steps have been taken to secure accurate and
scientific information of the conditions, which is the prime basis of intelligent
action. Until this shall be gained the course of wisdom appears clearly
to lie in a suspension of further disposal, which only promises to create
rights antagonistic to the common interest. No harm can follow this cautionary
conduct. The land will remain, and the public good presents no demand for
hasty dispossession of national ownership and control.

I commend also the recommendations that appropriate measures be taken
to complete the adjustment of the various grants made to the States for
internal improvements and of swamp and overflowed lands, as well as to
adjudicate and finally determine the validity and extent of the numerous
private land claims. All these are elements of great injustice and peril
to the settlers upon the localities affected; and now that their existence
can not be avoided, no duty is more pressing than to fix as soon as possible
their bounds and terminate the threats of trouble which arise from uncertainty.

The condition of our Indian population continues to improve and the
proofs multiply that the transforming change, so much to be desired, which
shall substitute for barbarism enlightenment and civilizing education,
is in favorable progress. Our relations with these people during the year
have been disturbed by no serious disorders, but rather marked by a better
realization of their true interests and increasing confidence and good
will. These conditions testify to the value of the higher tone of consideration
and humanity which has governed the later methods of dealing with them,
and commend its continued observance.

Allotments in severalty have been made on some reservations until all
those entitled to land thereon have had their shares assigned, and the
work is still continued. In directing the execution of this duty I have
not aimed so much at rapid dispatch as to secure just and fair arrangements
which shall best conduce to the objects of the law by producing satisfaction
with the results of the allotments made. No measure of general effect has
ever been entered on from which more may be fairly hoped if it shall be
discreetly administered. It proffers opportunity and inducement to that
independence of spirit and life which the Indian peculiarly needs, while
at the same time the inalienability of title affords security against the
risks his inexperience of affairs or weakness of character may expose him
to in dealing with others. Whenever begun upon any reservation it should
be made complete, so that all are brought to the same condition, and as
soon as possible community in lands should cease by opening such as remain
unallotted to settlement. Contact with the ways of industrious and successful
farmers will perhaps add a healthy emulation which will both instruct and
stimulate.

But no agency for the amelioration of this people appears to me so promising
as the extension, urged by the Secretary, of such complete facilities of
education as shall at the earliest possible day embrace all teachable Indian
youth, of both sexes, and retain them with a kindly and beneficent hold
until their characters are formed and their faculties and dispositions
trained to the sure pursuit of some form of useful industry. Capacity of
the Indian no longer needs demonstration. It is established. It remains
to make the most of it, and when that shall be done the curse will be lifted,
the Indian race saved, and the sin of their oppression redeemed. The time
of its accomplishment depends upon the spirit and justice with which it
shall be prosecuted. It can not be too soon for the Indian nor for the
interests and good name of the nation.

The average attendance of Indian pupils on the schools increased by
over 900 during the year, and the total enrollment reached 15,212. The
cost of maintenance was not materially raised. The number of teachable
Indian youth is now estimated at 40,000, or nearly three times the enrollment
of the schools. It is believed the obstacles in the way of instructing
are all surmountable, and that the necessary expenditure would be a measure
of economy.

The Sioux tribes on the great reservation of Dakota refused to assent
to the act passed by the Congress at its last session for opening a portion
of their lands to settlement, notwithstanding modification of the terms
was suggested which met most of their objections. Their demand is for immediate
payment of the full price of $1.25 per acre for the entire body of land
the occupancy of which they are asked to relinquish.

The manner of submission insured their fair understanding of the law,
and their action was undoubtedly as thoroughly intelligent as their capacity
admitted. It is at least gratifying that no reproach of overreaching can
in any manner lie against the Government, however advisable the favorable
completion of the negotiation may have been esteemed.

I concur in the suggestions of the Secretary regarding the Turtle Mountain
Indians, the two reservations in California, and the Crees. They should,
in my opinion, receive immediate attention.

The number of pensioners added to the rolls during the fiscal year ended
June 30, 1888, is 60,252, and increase of pensions was granted in 45,716
cases. The names of 15,730 pensioners were dropped from the rolls during
the year from various causes, and at the close of the year the number of
persons of all classes receiving pensions was 452,557. Of these there were
806 survivors of the War of 1812, 10,787 widows of those who served in
that war, 16,060 soldiers of the Mexican War, and 5,104 widows of said
soldiers.

One hundred and two different rates of pensions are paid to these beneficiaries,
ranging from $2 to $416.66 per month.

The amount paid for pensions during the fiscal year was $78,775,861.92,
being an increase over the preceding year of $5,308,280.22. The expenses
attending the maintenance and operation of the Pension Bureau during that
period was $3,262,524.67, making the entire expenditures of the Bureau
$82,038,386.57, being 21 1/2 per cent of the gross income and nearly 31
per cent of the total expenditures of the Government during the year.

I am thoroughly convinced that our general pension laws should be revised
and adjusted to meet as far as possible, in the light of our experience,
all meritorious cases. The fact that 102 different rates of pensions are
paid can not, in my opinion, be made consistent with justice to the pensioners
or to the Government; and the numerous private pension bills that are passed,
predicated upon the imperfection of general laws, while they increase in
many cases existing inequality and injustice, lend additional force to
the recommendation for a revision of the general laws on this subject.

The laxity of ideas prevailing among a large number of our people regarding
pensions is becoming every day more marked. The principles upon which they
should be granted are in danger of being altogether ignored, and already
pensions are often claimed because the applicants are as much entitled
as other successful applicants, rather than upon any disability reasonably
attributable to military service. If the establishment of vicious precedents
be continued, if the granting of pensions be not divorced from partisan
and other unworthy and irrelevant considerations, and if the honorable
name of veteran unfairly becomes by these means but another term for one
who constantly clamors for the aid of the Government, there is danger that
injury will be done to the fame and patriotism of many whom our citizens
all delight to honor, and that a prejudice will be aroused unjust to meritorious
applicants for pensions.

The Department of Agriculture has continued, with a good measure of
success, its efforts to develop the processes, enlarge the results, and
augment the profits of American husbandry. It has collected and distributed
practical information, introduced and tested new plants, checked the spread
of contagious diseases of farm animals, resisted the advance of noxious
insects and destructive fungous growths, and sought to secure to agricultural
labor the highest reward of effort and the fullest immunity from loss.
Its records of the year show that the season of 1888 has been one of medium
production. A generous supply of the demands of consumption has been assured,
and a surplus for exportation, moderate in certain products and bountiful
in others, will prove a benefaction alike to buyer and grower.

Four years ago it was found that the great cattle industry of the country
was endangered, and those engaged in it were alarmed at the rapid extension
of the European lung plague of pleuro-pneumonia. Serious outbreaks existed
in Illinois, Missouri, and Kentucky, and in Tennessee animals affected
were held in quarantine. Five counties in New York and from one to four
counties in each of the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and
Maryland were almost equally affected.

With this great danger upon us and with the contagion already in the
channels of commerce, with the enormous direct and indirect losses already
being caused by it, and when only prompt and energetic action could be
successful, there were in none of these States any laws authorizing this
Department to eradicate the malady or giving the State officials power
to cooperate with it for this purpose. The Department even lacked both
the requisite appropriation and authority.

By securing State cooperation in connection with authority from Congress
the work of eradication has been pressed successfully, and this dreaded
disease has been extirpated from the Western States and also from the Eastern
States, with the exception of a few restricted areas, which are still under
supervision. The danger has thus been removed, and trade and commerce have
been freed from the vexatious State restrictions which were deemed necessary
for a time.

During the past four years the process of diffusion, as applied to the
manufacture of sugar from sorghum and sugar cane, has been introduced into
this country and fully perfected by the experiments carried on by the Department
of Agriculture. This process is now universally considered to be the most
economical one, and it is through it that the sorghum-sugar industry has
been established upon a firm basis and the road to its future success opened.
The adoption of this diffusion process is also extending in Louisiana and
other sugar-producing parts of the country, and will doubtless soon be
the only method employed for the extraction of sugar from the cane.

An exhaustive study has also within the same period been undertaken
of the subject of food adulteration and the best analytical methods for
detecting it. A part of the results of this work has already been published
by the Department, which, with the matter in course of preparation, will
make the most complete treatise on that subject that has ever been published
in any country.

The Department seeks a progressive development. It would combine the
discoveries of science with the economics and amelioration of rural practice.
A supervision of the endowed experimental-station system recently provided
for is a proper function of the Department, and is now in operation. This
supervision is very important, and should be wisely and vigilantly directed,
to the end that the pecuniary aid of the Government in favor of intelligent
agriculture should be so applied as to result in the general good and to
the benefit of all our people, thus justifying the appropriations made
from the public Treasury.

The adjustment of the relations between the Government and the railroad
companies which have received land grants and the guaranty of the public
credit in aid of the construction of their roads should receive early attention.
The report of a majority of the commissioners appointed to examine the
affairs and indebtedness of these roads, in which they favor an extension
of the time for the payment of such indebtedness in at least one case where
the corporation appears to be able to comply with well-guarded and exact
terms of such extension, and the reenforcement of their opinion by gentlemen
of undoubted business judgment and experience, appointed to protect the
interests of the Government as directors of said corporation, may well
lead to the belief that such an extension would be to the advantage of
the Government.

The subject should be treated as a business proposition with a view
to a final realization of its indebtedness by the Government, rather than
as a question to be decided upon prejudice or by way of punishment for
previous wrongdoing.

The report of the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, with its
accompanying documents, gives in detail the operations of the several departments
of the District government, and furnishes evidence that the financial affairs
of the District are at present in such satisfactory condition as to justify
the Commissioners in submitting to the Congress estimates for desirable
and needed improvements.

The Commissioners recommend certain legislation which in their opinion
is necessary to advance the interests of the District.

I invite your special attention to their request for such legislation
as will enable the Commissioners without delay to collect, digest, and
properly arrange the laws by which the District is governed, and which
are now embraced in several collections, making them available only with
great difficulty and labor. The suggestions they make touching desirable
amendments to the laws relating to licenses granted for carrying on the
retail traffic in spirituous liquors, to the observance of Sunday, to the
proper assessment and collection of taxes, to the speedy punishment of
minor offenders, and to the management and control of the reformatory and
charitable institutions supported by Congressional appropriations are commended
to careful consideration.

I again call attention to the present inconvenience and the danger to
life and property attending the operation of steam railroads through and
across the public streets and roads of the District. The propriety of such
legislation as will properly guard the use of these railroads and better
secure the convenience and safety of citizens is manifest.

The consciousness that I have presented but an imperfect statement of
the condition of our country and its wants occasions no fear that anything
omitted is not known and appreciated by the Congress, upon whom rests the
responsibility of intelligent legislation in behalf of a great nation and
a confiding people.

As public servants we shall do our duty well if we constantly guard
the rectitude of our intentions, maintain unsullied our love of country,
and with unselfish purpose strive for the public good.